Green is the New Black: CEO of Plantics Wridzer Bakker about bio-based composites at JEC WORLD

On Tuesday, the 25th of April, our CEO Wridzer Bakker was an invited speaker at a plenary session of the JEC WORLD. This fair is ‘The Leading International Composites Show’ in the world, hosted in Paris. Wridzer took part in a panel discussion along with other experts on composite materials based on natural resources. The topic of the discussion: Natural Fibers & Bio-Based Polymers for Bio-composites.

The 60-minute panel discussion was introduced by moderator Ignaas Verpoest, Emeritus Professor, Composite Materials Group in the Department of Materials Engineering at KU Leuven. After the introduction, a discussion between the speakers and the moderator took place on questions and topics as:

• What advancements have been made in the use of natural fibers in composite materials?
• How do these renewable resource-based composites compare to conventional composite materials in terms of properties and performance?
• Can you discuss the challenges faced in incorporating bio-based polymers into composites and how they are being addressed?
• How can Raw Materials derived from renewable resources compete with traditional raw materials?
• What are the remaining barriers to the adoption of (more) sustainable materials: Cost? Properties? Process?
• We often see sustainability pitted against economic performance. What is your take on this, and what levers can we use to move forward?

Later on, there was room for some Q&A with the audience.

The panel discussion took place in a packed room with more than 500 attendees and many visitors showed great interest in composites from Plantics.

Want to learn more?
Read the article of JEC on this session and/or watch the full panel discussion on JEC’s website.

Karim Behlouli from Eco-technilin (left) and Wridzer Bakker (right)

Panel discussion with Wridzer Bakker (CEO Plantics), Karim Behlouli (Managing Director Eco-technilin), Tom Claessen (Avantium Renewable Polymers), Burcu Karaca Ugural (Co-Founder & CTO BPREG), Marc Tometschek (CEO Beologic), Adam Thomson (Volta Trucks)